Submachine Guns - Forgotten Weapons

Beretta 38/42: Simplified But Still Excellent

October 28, 2022 Ian McCollum 5

The Beretta Model 38A was an outstanding SMG at the beginning of World War Two, loaded with features and very easy to shoot. However, it was expensive and complex to produce, and pressures of war […]

Late-Production Degtyarev PPD 34/38 at the Range

October 22, 2022 Ian McCollum 12

A crash program to produce the PPD 34/38 after the initial battles of the Winter War, even as the improved PPD 40 was being rapidly developed. These are very rare gun today, and we have […]

The Soviet Union Adopts an SMG: Degtyarev’s PPD-34/38

October 21, 2022 Ian McCollum 28

The Soviet Union adopted its first submachine gun in 1935 after trials of some 14 different design in 1932/33. The winner of the trials was Vasily Degtyarev, once of the Soviet Union’s most prolific firearms […]

MAC Model 1947 Prototype SMGs

October 12, 2022 Ian McCollum 17

Today’s video – and many others – have been made possible in part by my friend Shéhérazade (Shazzi) Samimi-Hoflack. She is a real estate agent in Paris who specializes in working with English-speakers, and she […]

The CZ-2000 as a 9mm SMG Prototype

September 10, 2022 Ian McCollum 14

https://utreon.com/v/lF02vJfHQSC There have been several examples of the AK being used as the basis for a pistol-caliber SMG or PDW. The Russians made the Vityaz, the Hungarians made the KGPF-9…and the Czechs actually made a […]

FNAB 43: From WW2 Italy to Algerian Independence

September 5, 2022 Ian McCollum 16

Designed and manufactured by Fabbrica Nazionale d’Armi di Brescia (National Arms Factory of Brescia) in northern Italy, for use by the RSI and German military forces (as well as some partisan units). They were produced […]

When MAC-10 Meets Skorpion: Croatia’s Homeland War ALKA mod 93

August 24, 2022 Ian McCollum 13

The ALKA model 93 is one of the nicest of the several dozen simple SMGs made in Croatia during the Homeland War of the 1990s. It was produced by the IM Metal company (later renamed […]

Poland’s Problematic First SMG: The wz.39 Mors

August 10, 2022 Ian McCollum 9

Designed by Piotr Wilniewczyca and Jan Skrzypinski starting in 1936, the Mors was Poland’s first domestic SMG. Polish police forces had purchased Thompsons and Suomi in the 1920s and 1930s, but the military still had […]

Fun Time at the Range with a Skorpion Evo 3A1

July 30, 2022 Ian McCollum 8

https://www.instagram.com/czguns/ https://www.facebook.com/CZfirearms Today I’m taking a Skorpion Evo 3A1 out to the range…let’s see how much fun it can be!

Development of the CZ Skorpion from Laugo Prototype to Evo3A1

July 29, 2022 Ian McCollum 3

https://www.instagram.com/czguns/ https://www.facebook.com/CZfirearms The CZ Skorpion grew out of a Czech Army request for a new 9x19mm SMG as the newly formed Czech Republic pivoted to a Western orientation in the 1990s. The CZ factory took […]